Savvy tool users say you still have to reality check the output with how much it actually costs to drive your particular car. It's of no use that the manufacturer says a car gets 30 miles to the gallon if in reality you know it's more like 26.

When Kris and I took our short vacation in early October, I did something a little different. Though I've never been a budget guy, I set a budget for the trip. I knew how much I wanted to spend before I left.

As part of my planning, I needed to find out how far we were going to drive, how long it was going to take us (I didn't want to miss the ferry), and how much all of this was going to cost. I tried a couple of different methods without success before I stumbled upon Cost To Drive, a web tool that does just one thing: estimates the cost to drive from one place in the United States to another.

Cost To Drive is dead simple to use. Enter your starting point (address, city, state, or zip code) and your destination. Select your vehicle information, and then click a button.

This isn't really your actual cost for the trip, of course. I know from past research, for example, that my car currently costs me about 26 cents per mile to run. The site's owners realize this, too, and they plan to add features in the future.

For now, Cost To Drive simply calculates your estimated fuel costs, which is exactly what I wanted. Armed with this information, I was able budget for the rest our the trip.

Trivia: In October, Cost To Drive estimated $64.58 in round-trip fuel expenses for our vacation. It actually cost us $72.04. If we were to make the trip now, Cost To Drive estimates a cost of $30.96!

I've bookmarked Cost To Drive for the future. It's not the sort of tool I'll use everyday, but I know I'll want to play with it the next time we drive to San Francisco, for example, or if I ever do my long-dreamed-of cross-country trip.

Notes: For now, at least, Cost To Drive is U.S.-only. In the comments, Xepe71 points out that ViaMichelin offers the same service in Europe. Also, Fuelly remains my favorite web tool for vehicle-related expenses. I use it all the time.

In 2006, J.D. founded Get Rich Slowly to document his quest to get out of debt. Over time, he learned how to save and how to invest. Today, he's managed to reach early retirement! He wants to help you master your money — and your life. No scams. No gimmicks. Just smart money advice to help you reach your goals.

Looks nice, but of course a highway mile isn’t the same as an in-town mile. I’d be impressed if the software took that into account. And while it was at it, what about adding a premium onto any turns on the trip? Every turn has a good chance of involving a slowdown/acceleration which lowers mileage.

Microsoft Streets and trips does a bit of a better job of this, but of course it isn’t online (that I know of) and isn’t free. I picked up a prior year copy of it at Best Buy for like $29. You can enter specifically your mpg, the speed you intend to average, the road type you prefer, how often you plan to stop, etc. That being said, cost to drive was only about $10 off from Streets and Trips for the 929 mile round trip I was thinking of taking for Christmas, so I guess most can be forgiven :)

I am a pencil and paper person, though I would give it a try next I travel by car. I needed to go to Spokane (WA) for a quick weekend this past summer. I figured out the gas mileage and time to travel, using the pencil method. It was actually cheaper to fly one-way and take a taxi to the airport then to drive and pay for gas. I saved time driving (10 hours round-trip) and carpooled back to Seattle with a friend.

I’m not sure how much I’d trust their results. I plugged in the info for a trip from San Diego, CA to Cincinnati, OH (about 2400 miles) and checked the cost using our Honda Civic Hybrid. They calculated a cost of $91 – which isn’t far from my figures (2400 [email protected]=55 gallons, at a little less than $2/gallon, somewhere in the ballpark of $100) Then I tried with my Delorean. Since it wasn’t in their database, they let me enter the values for it. I put in 18mpg, and they calculated a cost of $114 for the same trip. When I divide 18mpg into 2400 miles, I get 133 gallons to take the trip in the D, well over double the need of the hybrid, yet the cost is only 20% higher? Something doesn’t add up in their calculations. Check their math before you rely on their numbers too much.

it calculates assuming you will fill up when your gas tank runs empty. we always fill up at half a tank, driving through mountains and middle of nowhere on our way home. we also know where the cheaper areas to buy gas are and prefer a different route.

last time we drove up, it cost about $250 round trip. now they’re saying $75 (our preferred route is a little longer, though). amazing how that adds up.

I like this site as a estimate, but would not “swear” by it…i mean, like the above poster said, this site runs on some assumptions that cannot be played out in reality.

A few other things that a person needs to expect to change fuel economy:

-are you running with proper tire pressure?
-are you driving with a full load of passenger or just yourself?
-is the trunk full or luggage or empty?
-are you driving with a/c (summer) or defrost (winter)?
-are you driving against the wind?
-are you driving at a constant speed or not?
-are you using in car items like dvd player, plugged in item in the car port (phone charging, laptop, etc)

All these when you think about it, add up on long drives.

Personally I have taken my car on an 8hr drive on a single tank (alone) and been unable to get that result when there are a few people and suitcases in the car.

I’m driving from Seattle to San Diego in January in my ’95 Volvo 850 wagon. The cost of gas this site gave me was $97.22 for 53.8 gallons.

However, it assumes that I use regular gas, and that I will be buying the cheapest gas available–ARCO, unbranded gas, Costco–averaging $1.78/gallon. So the fact that my car takes premium, and that I use a higher-quality detergent gasoline (such as Chevron), is not taken into consideration.

By my own pencil-and-paper calculations, it would take me just under 50 gallons of gas* to get me to my destination in northern San Diego county (as I use cruise control, don’t speed, and have a manual transmission). At an average price of $2.30/gallon, my gas costs would be $115.00.

Granted, it’s only about an $18 difference (although hey, that’s pretty much my entire coffee-and-cheeseburger budget on the road, ya know?). And for most drivers (whose cars run on regular unleaded, and who aren’t brand-fussy), the difference will be even smaller. But it’s such an easy problem to figure out with a pencil and paper and Google maps to give you mileage–I’m not all that impressed, honestly.

*And it could take me even less–I used 25 mpg as a basis because the math was easier, but I usually can get 27-28 on the highway.

This tool did not seem to work at all for me. It said that it would take 15 gallons for one way (reasonable estimate, I guess), but only 4.9 gallons for the way back. Hmmm…. Is Cincinnati to DC all downhill or something?

I agree that Microsoft Trips and Streets is invaluable when planning a trip. Look for discounted software on Ebay, Half.com, or Amazon. You can caluculate trips for “quickest” or “most scenic” and roads you want to avoid, driving time, MPG – of course, times for stops, map hotels, etc…. A ton of features!

AAA and other auto clubs have similar services with trip tics and they will calculate an estimated cost based on the information you give them. (example: fill up at 1/4 a tank, stop driving after 10 hours…)

Jim here, one of the founders of Cost2Drive.com. Thanks for the nice blog post. We’ve taken note of all the comments above, and are constantly working to improve the site so please keep the feedback coming.

I actually find the site remarkably irrelevant. It only takes into account the cost of gas, which I know the price of better than the site. The $1.56/gallon it quoted for me in Portland is silly. It’s closer to $2 in the places convenient to fill up. Here’s a quick way to do the same thing, while practicing your math skills: # of miles / mpg * price per gallon. All of which you should have a pretty good idea of if you’re concerned about the cost of driving.

And it ignores the wear and tear on the car, which is more than the cost of gas. How about adding the wear and tear calculation, then comparing to the the cost of Amtrak tickets and plane tickets for the same trip?

Jim here again from Cost2Drive. We agree with Daniel that there are many costs associated with driving, and wear and tear can be a significant one, so we are actively working on providing this information in future versions of our site.

Regarding plane tickets – we do provide that information for routes over 200 miles. We display the cheapest fare found on kayak.com for the route specified. And we’d love to add Amtrak as well.

Very irrelavant information. Seems to be a clone of the popular Streets & Trips from microsoft, except that it factors wear and tear on the car also which this one does not do that. Pretty much only gas which is useless.

Pretty cool site. Let’s you see if it’s worth driving, or more economical to fly and whatnot. Though with gas prices steadily going down still, I have a feeling that driving is going to be more popular until airlines start dropping their prices as well.

I appreciate being able to use the gas estimator to calculate the estimated cost for our summer road trip to Eastern Canada. I was able to convince the GF to go there instead of Iceland with the huge savings it projected

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My name is J.D. Roth. I started Get Rich Slowly in 2006 to document my personal journey as I dug out of debt. Then I shared while I learned to save and invest. Twelve years later, I've managed to reach early retirement! I'm here to help you master your money — and your life. No scams. No gimmicks. Just smart money advice to help you get rich slowly. Read more.

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